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My point being is clear, let him settle, give him time and get the team to understand the system properly, he will cook. He is able to control games which he did several times at Brighton. If anything, it was when we went to possession football, when Kante sometimes did not look as effective and I thought sometimes especially against teams with low block, I preferred seeing Jorginho and Kovacic together. Can totally buy the former (enforcer), not so much the latter (dictate tempo). Still hope you are right tho. Still think that the leap from "he's a total baller" to WC is a bit tougher than we make it out to be eh.

I did not watch Kante at league 2. Someone did tho. That person saw real potential, which I don't see in Caicedo. I digress tho. Let's just assume, for argument's sake, that Kante and Caicedo both at 22 were about the same level. That really does not mean a whole lot, because that last leap that Kante did is the rarest of them all. That should be self-evident given the ridiculously small number of truly WC players in the game. That's precisely the reason I don't really believe the strategy the club is employing--I suspect they might have miscalculated the odds. Going back to eyeball/pub guesses, I admit that's what they are, Kante had one extremely underrated quality (to most) which was his control of the football at extreme pace. I don't see anything like that in Caicedo; I don't see anything special about his game. Yes, he's physically rounded (not high balls tho), but he's quick and aggressive, and that's about it. The difference between Brighton and City is that one makes a number of different bets to strike gold (WC player); while the other waits until they make that rarest leap, and then sign the ready WC player they need to beat everyone else. Sorry, I really don't see an upside in our current strategy.

yup and tbf to Caicedo, if we remove the price tag from the equation, he's a decent potentially good player. Of course we overpaid big time, but that's our modus operandi these days eh.

Yeah I think he lacks more than a he physical aspects actually. One could argue that a WC should already look pretty impressive at 22. honestly eyeballs only here, he simply lacks skill. He’s pretty lousy past the midfield line, for ex. Why "past the midfield line is different"? it's more contested and there is less space to operate--better players thrive there.

Heh I know right?! Some people really get attached to the players for some reason. players come and go there is no fucking loyalty in the game. They usually last a little longer than managers, but they always go. I highly recommend meeting a professional football and actually talking to him; their mindset would look strangely familiar to us grinders 😆 there is nothing special about caicedo. Kante used to do what he does 10x better. Imagining that because he’s young he will get to WC is just wishful thinking. The truth is that none of us know that, we just have guesses. Mine is that there is no evidence to support the case caicedo will be WC one day.

The issue seems to be how it's been used at the club, not the process itself which is highly customizable. At most clubs, data analysis is the starting point to signing players. It does not make Pep sign a player, for example. It provides a list of potential candidates and information about them--all based on what he, the manager, is looking for. Data analysis is a tool, which can be used correctly or not.

KDB was the more rounded player with shooting and vision that Eden never had. Eden had a bit more tight control and a lot more dribbling ability. However, for me the big difference between the 2 was teamwork, aggression, the mental aspects of the game. Eden does not have a single great game in the toughest stages of the CL, for ex. Wasn't the most dedicated player in games or in training; multiple reports from former teammates indicate that. For me, personally, KDB was the more dangerous player esp with his shooting ability -- difficult to defend against that. Down to stats and awards, there is really no comparison.

Yeah I've heard of him. Still early days evidently, but looks like he's a talent alright. No comparisons with Ronaldinho yet, but they will come--Ronaldinho also came from Gremio's academy. Yup my cousin texted me about Estevao as he played against Botafogo SP (the series B club not Rio's Botafogo) and did very well. Not just the winning goal, but performance too. Regarding the earlier post about valuations, nothing affects the valuation of players as not being able to play. We've got many players who were out for the entire season (second season for James), which is uncommon. I hope our physios are analyzing the situation and will inform the club about each individual case. Some hard decisions ahead of us.

the Catholic Church played a huge part in the conquest in SA. Pope Francis has asked forgiveness from the Indigenous peoples of Latin America for the many crimes committed by the Catholic church during the “so-called conquest.” (2015) Once again, we learn this stuff in high school and have known this all my life. It was very much the Catholic Church however you want to call it. There is a reason Brazil has the largest Catholic population in the world. Regarding the Mussolini, that was exactly my point earlier: that being religious does not seem to make anyone more or less "good" (also a definition that changes drastically decade to decade). I pointed out that the Italian mafia were in general very religious catholic, and reckon that did not make them any better.

Only 1800 people burned?! someone deserves a medal! 😆 Seriously, that's just cherry picking one metric. That was actual "genocide" as the indigenous people were pretty much targeted and exterminated or enslaved because of their race. "The population of Indigenous Americans is estimated to have decreased from approximately 145 million to around 7-15 million between the late 15th and late 17th centuries, representing a decline of around 90-95%.[59]" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide_of_Indigenous_peoples We learn this stuff in high school in Brazil--very catholic population too.

Yeah I strongly disagree about Mudryk because I don't see the skill. The tight control of the football isn't there. Mudryk is lightweight, no aerial game, has a poor first touch, and average passing ability... I think he's one of the worst wingers I've seen in the PL. Still think Madeueke's ceiling is a bit lower than anything "diamond" worded 🙂 as he also does not have that tight control, but he does have far more tools than Mudryk.

His agent is working hard apparently 🙂 TBH, what he does against u18 matters very little to me, and unlikely Endrik he's untested at senior level. Let's see who snatches him and whether that pays off or not.

I wouldn't call Madueke amazing in attack, but he certainly did help a lot in D. I conceded that I erred when I compared him to Mudryk in the game thread. Madueke is a footballer trying to improve and performing the team tasks. Whether he will be good enough long term is yet to be seen just as it was a question mark for Tammy not long ago. Evidently he was there to help a young an inexperienced RB, which only makes his teamwork effort today even more impressive. Poch STAY! 😆

Mudryk was by far the worst player on the pitch today, and some Spurs players were missing a first touch (Richarlyson for ex). Think it's very plausible Maatsen would be able to do better, or at least be a viable option without having to change the system, like he did when Casadei got in.

Just to record by "BOOOO" because you called Spurs "big." Seriously though, there are teams which because of characteristics do well against tougher opposition, but don't have enough attacking prowess to consistently beat the weaker opposition esp away from home. Getting that balance right is extremely difficult, and why Pep gets all the dough.

A bit unfair on Enzo tho, given that we try to make him available for the toughest matches. I suspect it's more of an issue of the trio, not only between Enzo and Caicedo. Tbf, Trevor and Badiashile have been good today and in previous matches too. Cuccu has been improving too. Summer is going to be key though. Have to make tough decisions, but they need to be made. Like, concerning players who don't really play a whole lot.

I was wrong when I compared Madueke with Mudryk. Madueke may never become the player we need, but he's looking like a PL footballer alright. He's young and switches off at times, but he can definitely track back and win duels. Plus plenty of pace and power there.

Palmer is just ridiculous. 🙂 He plays like he's a 28yo who's been running the show for many seasons. Forgot Mudryk was on the pitch. 😅

yeah. Heh, Drogba and Giroud can prob be considered set piece masters. remember the complaints of the opposition when they used to play against Drogba's Chelsea: we overplay them for the entire match then Drogba goes and scores out of nothing. 😆

Could be numbers too as we have pretty ineffective players at set pieces, like the aforementioned Mudryk. So, it's easier for the opposition to get a unfair duel going by sheer numbers.

same -- good half. Concern is towards the end with our thin bench. If some of our players look visibly gassed, I bet they will try to exploit that with fresh legs.

Footballing IQ goes a long way as well. Thiago Silva for example has always been good in set pieces, even though he's not that tall.

OK "that I can remember" 🙂

Near miss? It came from him, so that was 100% chance of being missed given his shooting ability: the worst I've seen in a while. There no talent there for me. Nothing at all. He's likely the worst attacking player I've seen at a big club in like 10 years. Honestly I can't remember worse.

Oh I don't want to be impressed; just want to see someone who resembles a PL footballer. 😅